Full speed ahead for safety
Focus on safety: How Denise ensures safe vehicles
When Denise gets into her car in the morning, one thing is clear: no two days are the same. As a test engineer at DEKRA, the 35-year-old helps ensure that vehicles are safe on Germany's roads. “I make sure that people get from A to B safely,” she says. What sounds simple requires experience, attention, and good instincts because technical defects or improperly implemented modifications are not uncommon in everyday life.
From a passion for technology to test engineer
Denise has been working as a test engineer since 2020, currently at the Backnang branch. Her path to DEKRA led her through a mechanical engineering degree in Heilbronn – and a passion for technology and cars: she was already sitting in a go-kart at the age of eight, and by 16 she was tinkering in the garage, sharing her enthusiasm with her father and brother. “I've always preferred being in the workshop to being in the office,” she says.
When she was 30 and considering her career options, it was a former fellow student and former DEKRA examiner who recommended the company to her. She then joined the Stuttgart branch. She is currently training to become a regional assessor and plans to contribute her knowledge as a lecturer in the future.
At DEKRA, we are the good guys. We help, we explain, we test – and we make sure that people are safe on the road.
Denise, Test engineer at DEKRA in the Backnang branch
Safety and respect in customer contact
“I love my job,” she says. “I travel a lot and deal with people and technology every day. It suits me.” Dealing with customers is particularly important to her. She often appeals to the reality of her counterpart's life: she convinces a father with the safety of his children, and a travel enthusiast with the fact that the converted bus won't break down on their next trip. “You have to adapt to each person individually. Be clear about the technical details but always treat people with respect and as equals.”
Love for drifting: Denise's world on the race track
When she's not working, Denise is at home on the race track. She has been drift racing for more than ten years and is known to motorsport fans as the “Drift Queen.” In 2015, she won a race in the European Championship – as the only woman among 64 starters. She has consistently ranked among the top ten in subsequent years. Her converted BMW E30, dominated by red and green, is her pride and joy. “When I'm in the car, I forget everything there's just me, the car, and the track.”
Drifting is more than just a hobby for her. It's a passion – even if it takes a lot of time and commitment. She has had sponsors in the past but currently covers the costs herself. It's an expensive hobby. But for her, one thing is clear: “I'm not driving the car – we're driving it together.”
Drifting is all about perfect teamwork. It is judged on line, angle, speed, and style – similar to figure skating. “Of course you can learn to drift,” she says, “but without talent it takes forever.” Simulators? Not her thing. “I need real asphalt.”
No compromises when it comes to safety
Denise is a brand: direct, honest, clear. She knows how to assert herself. “I don't compromise on safety – neither on the road nor on the race track.” She says: “At DEKRA, we are the good guys. We help, we explain, we test – and we make sure that people are safe on the road.” That's exactly what she does every day. With attitude, with expertise – and at full throttle.